picking up the pieces
by Ican'thandleusernames
Summary: after defeating Asura Maka begins to go crazy and fall apart but soul is their to pick her back up and fix her (sucky summary is sucky) sorry if this sucks this is my first fan fiction
1. Chapter 1

"…aka" she heard a desperate voice call out to her breaking though her fogged up thoughts "Maka" there it was again louder, clearer "oh god! Please wake up. Maka!" the voice was broken by sobs but still she could hear it loud and clear through all the darkness that surrounded her. Slowly she opened her eyes only to wince from the bright light and close them again, however this action did not go unnoticed by the silver headed boy who sat beside her "oh god thank you! Maka your alive I'm so happy" suddenly Maka could no longer feel the hard ground pressing into her back but rather an equally hard chest pressed into her own she also noticed the lack of air she could draw "soul … can't breathe" soul jerked her back off him unknowingly causing her pain "sorry Maka that wasn't cool of me but I'm just so happy you woke up" Maka laughed nervously "what why wouldn't I wake up I only fell asleep for the night" soul visibly paled much to Maka's worry "Maka look around we aren't at home. After you defeated the kishin you collapsed it's been 5 hours now black star and kid went to get help as everyone returned to their home to rest they should arrive soon though" a moments silence fell before "AHAHAHAHAHAHA right that's funny soul I know you put me out here" Maka was shaking and crying with fear but trying desperately trying to hide it. Fear had coiled around her heart filling her with ice cold dread, what if the kishin had done something to her? What if she was going to mad and become a kishin too? She couldn't remember ever defeating Asura.

"You will be ok I promise"

Never had Maka believed that six simple words could have such an impact on her but they did her hysterical sobs mixed with laughter stopped so suddenly after soul said those words that even soul looked worried and asked if she was ok which caused Maka to burst into laughter but this time it was out of happiness and relief, even if that niggling feeling was still in the back of her mind she had she had soul to help cope with it and deal with it should they ever need to. Seeing Maka lost in her thoughts worried soul more than he thought is should but just as he was about to snap her out of it yells of "Soul" "soul-kun" "Maka-Chan" or just "Maka" from various members of the EAT class did it for him the shouts were gradually getting louder and clearer making it obvious that they were searching for the pair however the first to find them was Crona as usual he was wearing his robe and holding his arm "a-are you o-okay Maka-Chan?" he stuttered anxious as usual there was concern written all over his face and Maka knew she was the reason for it, patting at the ground beside her as a way of telling Crona to sit she grinned at the scared boy "I'm just fine Crona I promise", During all this soul had gotten up from his place beside Maka and gone to find the help group and led them back.

After being found by stein and the others in the class Maka was left in the nurse's office to be looked after by stein and soul reluctantly returned to their flat and Blair but only after being kicked out by stein.


	2. Chapter 2

It was now midnight and unfortunately for Blair, soul wouldn't stop pacing in his room. Normally Blair would go annoy him or tell him to stop, but she knew how worried he was for Maka as she shared the same feelings, so just this once she stayed away. Earlier that night Blair had made dinner for the two of them due to the fact Soul was too distracted worrying about Maka, how she was and if she was going to be okay which resulted in a pile of ash and almost a fire if Blair hadn't been around. During his pacing soul had been thinking about his relationship with Maka. He did always show his love for her right? But what if she didn't realise? What if she didn't know he loved her? Soul decided as soon as the morning arrived he would be by Maka's side telling her his feelings.

Meanwhile in the office Maka also was having trouble sleeping, but for entirely different reasons. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Asura's staring at her unblinking but creeping closer ever so slightly, the glowing crimson of the eyes pulled her in almost like she was hypnotised until she no longer could look away or open her eyes, and honestly Maka could not say she was scared of the eyes instead looking into those eye she found herself being soothed and calmed and that is what scared her. She knew that Asura was dangerous and that she should call for stein but she was so relaxed and sleepy that she didn't want to. Instead she found herself staring at the ever nearing eyes until they engulfed her.

-time jump -

Maka couldn't remember ever falling asleep but when she opened her eyes it was light and she was surrounded by all her friends from her class and Tsugumi Harudori, Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn from the NOT class, Maka heart gave a tiny, weak but still there leap when she saw that someone she had only met a few times cares for her enough to visit with her friends. all of Maka's friends and the teachers with them had an anxious look on their faces but once they saw her eyes open a wave of relief seemed to wash over the group and they all seemed to perk up and ask questions and generally creating a ruckus, although that was mainly black star, throughout the constant chatter and giggles from her friends Maka couldn't help but feel someone was missing. Soul, the one person Maka was desperate to see to talk to and to be comforted by was absent.

The gang stayed with Maka for a whole hour before stein finally herded them out the door much to the group's dismay and Maka's relief, now she could finally get some peace.

As instructed by stein Maka laid in her bed resting. She fell asleep after an hour only to be plagued by vivid nightmares.

In Maka's dream

She was falling down into a pool of red looking up to the black flowers that held her prisoner; her vision was blurred by the liquid the surrounded her, rendering her vision and voice useless as Maka fell deeper, deeper until the surface was just a small light beyond her grasp. As she fell she could hear the voices of her friends calling for her and begging her to come back to them. She looked up to see the blurred from of all her friends, most notably Soul. Once Maka saw the blurred outline of her closest friends she struggled trying to get to the surface which only caused her to be dragged further down by the flowers which now had sunk into the water. She heard her friends begin to give up and leave she tried calling for them only to have the blood like water stream into her lungs. Eventually only soul was left their reaching for her, all Maka could do was hope that he would stay by the lake she was drowning in until she could fight her way back to the surface. But alas that never happened, Maka felt as if she had been thrown into an ice cold bath as soon as she noticed his retreating form. Finally giving up her struggle to get back to the surface she sighed out her partner's name and let herself fall.

Back to reality

Soul sat on a chair watching Maka sleep, he knew that the others had visited earlier but he thought that he would rather see Maka alone. He watched as his partner slept noting that her sleep was troubled and this troubles him in turn.


	3. Chapter 3

Maka awoke to the sound of soft crying of her partner Soul; she listened closely as he begged her to forgive him for failing her and letting her get so badly hurt in his words it was 'uncool' of him to let his partner go without a weapon for so long. Hearing all this broke her heart. How could the person she admired the most for being strong feel like he was weak? Gathering all her strength she moved to sit up and hold his hand "I knew you would visit me Soul. Thank you, you were so strong back there I could never have done it without you. I'm sorry for worrying you" Soul looked terrible his silver hair messy and lacking his normal head band, his eyes red and puffy from where he was crying.

"I'm sorry Maka I should have been stronger, no meister should be without a weapon to protect them. I failed you" with his lasts words Soul lowered his head in shame. Maka was shocked to hear her best friend say such things, she felt as if her world was falling apart and the only thing keeping her together was slowly rusting away. "Soul please," she begged "don't feel that way. I know I don't. You were the one that gave me the strength that I have now. knowing you would die for me made me want to become stronger so I could protect you the way you would for me. And now because of that I am both stronger and wiser. So please cheer up? For me?" Maka did her best puppy eyes, the ones she used when she was a child to get away with mischief this of course made Soul chuckle "You know those don't work on me Maka, but for my meister and best friend I guess I could stop being so uncool" Soul grinned his usual lopsided grin which Maka returned, grateful to have her partner happy again.

The sun was now struggling to stay awake as his shift was almost over his warm beams shining through the windows sending a warm and sleepy beam of soft light into the room causing both Maka and soul to yawn. "I think it's time soul left" a soft male voice interjected, a very sleepy stein leaned on the door frame "go on you have homework don't you?" he added with a small smirk. Soul sighed before getting of the chair with a small oof. He walked to the side of Maka's bed and kissed her forehead and whispered "get better soon kay Maka? I miss you." And with that he left the room.

Stein gave Maka a sleepy smile and got some injections and medicines ready for Maka. Now she would never admit this to anyone but needles were what truly frightened Maka, she could feel her heart start to race with panic, her throat constricting and her mouth go dry, she let out a small squeak of fear which caught the attention of the professor, who only chuckled "you really do take after your mother Maka" he turned round only to be greeted by the confused face on his student "I bet your wondering why I brought Kami up now aren't you" he taunted only to be met by a fierce glare, his face softened " she too was afraid of injections but put on a brave face" Maka's glare dropped to a form of shock "s-she was?" Maka's voice was shaky but held surprise as if it had never crossed her mind.

Soul got home and immediately fell onto the sofa face first, much to Blair's worry. She climbed over his legs and sat behind him patting his back "soul? Are you ok? Hay! Did you tell Maka your feelings?" the sound of Blair's voice fell on deaf ears as soul lay on the sofa. He had kissed Maka's head intent on saying those three pesky words but had got scared at the last minute so had just left them out. And now he regrets it. He really misses having Maka to annoy and talk too.

Blair watched soul with a worried look on her face she had been worried about both soul and Maka, although mainly soul as Maka was mean to her. Soul had changed since Maka collapsed and it wasn't for the best. Soul had become withdrawn and moody and hated going out, even to play basketball, he locked himself in his room to study. Occasionally Blair would hear crying coming from behind the closed doors.

Blair decided the best way to fix her friends was though her work, and their most frequent customer Spirit Albarn also known as Maka's dad. Surely of all the people to know of Maka's progress would be her papa right?


	4. Chapter 4

Blair sat patiently waiting for the red headed man known as Spirit. He normally came to the club every day to talk to her and the other girls. Blair knew that Spirit enjoyed talking to her the most as she knew how Maka was and what was going on in "his precious little girls" life. They liked to share stories of her life together and had become somewhat friends. However Spirit never showed up at the club, much to Blair's disappointment. It was now at the end of her day and Blair had reluctantly started to pack up ready to head home as it was now late and Soul would be worried if she wasn't home soon.

Spirit had every intention of going to the club and getting completely drunk and most likely pass out on the way home, just like every night, but tonight something stopped him. As he walked the path towards his usual bar a familiar coiling feeling entered his stomach, the same feeling he got when Maka got angry with him, the feeling which always caused a cold shiver to crawl down his spine. He closed his eyes as his thoughts turned to his only child and the pain she had gone through in her young life. He knew he wasn't the best father and he knew that his way of coping with the breakdown of his marriage and the divorce did nothing to help Maka or his relationship with her but he didn't know what else to do, in his eyes if he didn't drink he would fall apart. It was then that he opened his eyes, sun blaring down on him laughing causing him to squint at the sudden brightness, "what am I doing" he sighed before turning around and walking away from his route to the bar.

- pov jump-

It was early evening the sun was laughing tiredly, drool hanging from its mouth, spreading shadows over death city if Crona said that he could deal with the sun laughing he would be lying, truthfully it terrified him. Crona had found himself getting bored and more jumpy than usual without Maka around to comfort and protect him, so decided to visit her for the first time since he had found her and soul after the fight.

After an hour of walking, thanks to Ragnarok giving him wrong directions, Crona finally arrived at the nurse's office where Maka was resting, he stood outside the door debating whether or not to go in after his mind had gone through every possibility Ragnarok popped out and whacked him on the head "I could be eating right now! You dragged me here now get in that room or ill keep you up all night again" gulping at the thought of being kept up all night Crona nervously knocked on the door fully expecting Miss Nygus to open the door, since the battle with Asura she had taken up the job of the school nurse, so when Spirit opened the door Crona was more than a little shocked. Spirit smiled sadly and put a finger to his lips in a "shhh" motion before moving aside to let him in.

Once Crona had stepped inside the room he saw why he had been shushed. On the bed laid a pale thin looking sleeping Maka "she's adorable when she sleeps huh?" Crona nodded not really listening to a word that spirit was saying, too shocked at the sight of his dearest and strongest friend looking so frail and weak, he could feel his eyes watering at the sight. He felt Ragnarok stir inside him something was agitating him and Crona could feel it to, there was something wrong yet very familiar in the air and it bothered them both greatly.

Forgotten by Crona, Spirit sat next to his daughter watching the turmoil in the strange boy's eyes not knowing how to approach without scaring him. In the end he decided to leave Crona and his daughter alone. Leaning over his daughter's body he kissed her head and begged her to get better, Standing up he gave Crona a quick nod before leaving.

- pov jump-

Ragnarok could feel it, the insanity, it was radiating of the flat chested cow and somehow it felt both annoying and comforting to him. He knew Crona could feel it as well, he could feel his partner squirm under the feeling, finding it most unpleasant. He wished he could go back to the old days when he was stronger and bigger, he remembered how scared people were when they saw him coming out from Crona's back, and the thrill it gave him was almost like getting drunk.

That's when he heard it, the small giggle emitted from her mouth. Both he and Crona recognised it; the sound was off, lower than her usual laugh and identical to when the black blood had her infected. Ragnarok went rigid as an ice cold chill ran through him as cold as ice, freezing his body as it went through him. He dreaded the moment Maka awoke.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a week and Soul had never felt so alone. Normally when he arrived home he was welcomed by the cheerful voice of his best friend and partner Maka, and the smell of her delicious cooking, but now he was welcomed by silence and the smell of the meal Tsubaki cooked for him yesterday. It wasn't that Soul couldn't cook; he could, rather well actually. But after Maka was moved from the nurses office to the hospital Soul had lost all motivation in his life. Black Star and Tsubaki came every morning to make sure he was up and ready then dragged him to school, where upon his legs just walked to his lessons and his brain remained focused on his Maka and how alone she must feel until all his lessons were done. Today was no different.

Soul had got home from his last lesson, after dumping his school bag on the sofa he wandered aimlessly round the house, ending up outside Maka's room. When he opened her door he was welcomed by the scent of home, of her perfume.

Before he knew it his legs had him at the foot of her bed. His red eyes scanned the room, everything was in its place, neat and organised just like she was. Soul felt his eyes water as his eyes fell onto the still made bed, he chuckled bitterly at the thought of how 'uncool' he was being and let his body fall into the comfort of her blankets and took in as much of her smell as he could. Silence wrapped around him leaving him to his thoughts. He let his eyes fall shut blocking out all signs of Maka being absent. He felt like he was truly home again.

"Soul, it's time to wake up" a soft voice called out to him. Green eyes met a sleepy red as soul awoke "M-Maka? I thought you were meant to be in hos" before he could finish a delicate finger was placed upon his lips successfully silencing him "hurry up or your breakfast will get cold" Maka giggled sweetly and with that Maka walked out his room, her soft humming following her. Soul listened to her soft voice for a while as happiness washed over him. As he got out of bed he heard her humming stop. Panic cling to his heart as his legs forced him to find out what stopped her melody. As he got to the doorframe of the kitchen he found Maka on her knees in the middle of the room crying. He tried to walk towards her only to find his feet stuck in place. The sound of her sobs echoed through the flat causing soul's heart to break. Soul willed his legs to move forcing his body to jerk over and over again till finally the invisible glue lost its hold on his foot and he stumbled forward.

_Thump! _

Soul lifted his hand to his head as pain shot over his body; he opened his eyes only to find himself on the floor of Maka's bedroom tangled within her sheets. He felt his eyes water as reality came crashing down on him, suffocating had all been a dream. Maka was still in hospital and he was still alone whishing she was in his arms. He pulled her sheets close to him inhaling trying to find her sent again only to find his own smell had taken over. He let out a pained sob as everything fell to pieces in front of his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~ pov jump ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maka lay on the hospital bed. She was scared, more scared than she had ever been in her life. Sure she had been to hospital before, for broken bones and such but never has she been alone and never had she stayed in overnight. For the first time ever she wished she had her dad with her. Even if it just was for the sound of a familiar voice and so she wasn't alone.

She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of rain hitting her window, normally this would calm her but for some strange reason it just put her on edge. She tried to focus on anything but the rain allowing her mind to roam free; it was then that she heard it the small "hello?" The voice sounded so weak and lost just like how she felt, just like a small child looking for its mummy.

Truth be told she felt a little bit bad for the small voice so she opened her eyes and looked at the door. There stood a little girl almost identical to her when she was little, however she was darker more sinister looking, her emerald eyes were cast on the ground as she scuffed her shoes on the floor in what seemed to be nerves, her pink dress was torn and the child was covered in what Maka believed was wet mud. Now Maka had never really had a chance to show off but she had always been proud of her skills with children always wishing to show she could be motherly. So to her this time was her chance to show off.

She beckoned the child to come over allowing a small smile to grace her face as the child shuffled over slowly. When asked for a name the child grinned letting Maka see the many pointed teeth she had "I am you of course." A dark croaky voice replied "or at least I'm the side of you, you never let out. I'm the evil inside your heart, every dark thought and every dark desire you have ever had" Maka watched as the child got closer to her. With each step it grew older by the time it had reached the foot of her bed she was the same age as Maka.  
It was like looking through a mirror into a parallel world. The new woman who stood in front of her wore the same clothes even had the same hair style. The only difference was the colours they wore. Maka crawled back to the headrest on her bed as the other climbed onto her bed. Before Maka could escape her 'twin' had her trapped between the wall, the headrest and herself.

Fear paralysed Maka as her doppelganger began its attempt to take her life. She forced her eyes shut as a hand wrapped around her neck.


	6. Chapter 6

_just noticed I haven't done this yet but I own nothing but the general storyline of this all this :3 all characters belong to the original creator :3 _

* * *

Tears fell down Maka's face as she lifted her arms and wrapped her hands tightly around the neck of a shadow, the very shadow that also was strangling her, she could feel his pulse underneath her hands and it sickened her. She scrunched her eyes tighter as the pulse began to slow. The only thing that made her open her eyes was the roar of thunder that sounded above them, it was so close that she couldn't help but jump slightly.

She blinked twice as lightning lit up the room, as it faded the pressure on her neck disappeared and a new pressure clinging to her hands, trying to push them off, appeared. She loosened her grip on his neck; just enough to allow a loud gasp fill the room. "M-Maka please" the soft whimper of Souls voice hit her ears "let go" her eyes widened in fear as she snatched her hands away. Tears once again fell from her puffy green eyes. She watched as the shadow stumbled backwards into the dim light from the window, revealing the form of soul. He fell to the floor hands on his chest as he began gasping for air. "Soul!?" Maka cried out, panic replacing fear as she watched her best friend on the floor looking up at her with scared, hurt eyes.

"M-Maka why? Why did you suddenly attack me?" he gasped still gulping in air, Soul's voice trembled slightly when he spoke. "I, it was- it wasn't, I wasn't, no I couldn't" Maka chocked on her words, she was shocked that she had hurt her best friend, weakly she whispered "it wasn't you" she pulled her legs closer to her body and curled up on herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ pov jump~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soul looked up to his friend, his red eyes softening at the sight before him; Maka was curled up crying as if scared to move, to look at him in case he got hurt again. His heart was breaking at the sight. Despite the voice in his head screaming to get away from her and tell someone what happened he climbed onto her bed lay behind her and wrapped his arms round Maka in an attempt to comfort her. "It's ok, uhm it was my fault anyway ... you looked pretty spaced out. " despite his best efforts to stop he could still feel himself shaking from being near her "it was my fault for creeping up on you" _ugh I suck at comforting her … this is so uncool of me _he thought to himself. "B-but Soul I attacked you!" a sob caused her body to jump slightly "you could of died! I could have killed you!" she screeched. Soul hesitated for a second before turning Maka, forcing her to face him; bringing his hand slowly to her face he wiped away her tears. "I'm still here aren't I?" a sad but cocky gin made its way to his face, truthfully it didn't feel right to be acting this way at such a time but he didn't know how else to act.

He felt his smile widen as he heard a muffled giggle, Maka had buried her head into his shoulder and latched onto him like the world was coming to an end. He wrapped his arms round her before letting out an obnoxiously loud yawn "I'm staying here tonight Maka is that cool with you?" He mumbled into Maka's head, too tired to actually move. "Good! You know you never had a choice with that right?" Maka teased grinning happily, Soul felt his smile become real as he snuggled up to her. He ignored the feeling of being watched as he closed his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~pov jump ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crona stood watching the scene unfold ahead of him. Ragnarok had woken him earlier, alerting him of a strange feeling smothering the air around them. He knew the feeling well in fact they both did. It was the feeling of madness.

The first thing he had done when he was woken up was panic, the feeling of madness reminded him of medusa and how he used to be before Maka taught him how to change. It took half an hour of being hit upside the head and told to grow up by his trusty weapon for Crona to finally manage to leave his room. As he started to walk down the hallway he couldn't help but think to himself how creepy the corridors were at night.

With each step Crona took the madness ebbed away at his mind, both he and Ragnarok could feel it but Crona, unlike his partner, tried to pretend it wasn't there. After another hour of wandering around seemingly endless corridors, due to Ragnarok's bad sense of direction and his aggression when told that they were wrong, Crona found himself at the exit gate of the prison, he had been given plenty of offers to leave and move into his own house or even to move in with Maka and soul but he was comfortable where he was. Sucking in the watery air he walked out into the streets of death city.

It took Crona half an hour to get to death city's hospital, mainly because he had to keep stopping to prevent him from having a mental breakdown as he walked further away from his home and into the unknown streets of the city. However once he reached his destination he couldn't help but shiver, he was soaked from the storm and unfortunately had no change of clothes.

Walking into the hospital Crona found himself surprised, there were no night nurses about and the young receptionist was fast asleep. This meant once again he had to rely on Ragnarok's and his own sense of direction, which was not the best. But he headed off to the stairs using the overwhelming feeling of madness in the air as his guide. By the time he reached Maka's floor Crona felt dizzy, almost like when he had been consumed by madness for the first time. "_Whoa! Whoever this aura belongs to must be pretty powerful" _Crona heard Ragnarok hiss at him from the back of his head, he hummed in response feeling very intimidated by this feeling. Hoping the feeling being emitted was from behind another door Crona opened Maka's door. It took all of Crona's will power not to scream at what he saw when the door swung open, instead he stood shaking silently.


End file.
